The more we can can agree, the better the outcome

When we started our long-term plan last term and learnt we have to spend time on council’s ‘‘purpose and values’’, my instinct was probably like yours in thinking this was a waste of time and let’s skip straight to the numbers. To be honest, purpose and values sound like a nice laminated poster and not much else.

But seeing the competing priorities of last term and the new ones this term, we have learnt the more we can agree with the community and each other in the front end, the better the outcome becomes at the finish line.

Because the issue with jumping straight to budgets and priorities, without some shared sense of what we’re actually trying to achieve, means conversations just go in circles. Should we fund this? Cut that? Invest here? Every decision ends up being relitigated from scratch because there’s no agreed foundation underneath it. And in local government, that’s not just frustrating, it’s also expensive.

We have seen it play out across the country, councils, including ours, end up spending money on things that felt right at the time but didn’t really reflect what the community wanted or needed. The intention was correct, but the bigger picture was lost and over 10 years, that drift adds up on your rates bill.

So in a few weeks, we are going to get out and about to have a chat. We want to hear from people about what they think council is actually for, and what matters most to this community before we start making the big calls for the next decade.

We don’t have all the answers, and that’s the point. A long-term plan built on what our district genuinely values will make for better decisions than one built on what councillors assumed you valued.

The difference might not be obvious in year one, but over a decade it’s the difference between a rates bill that reflects your priorities and one that reflects no-one’s.

So if you see us about, come have a yarn. This bit, the foundation, is where the best financial decisions start.